My colleague Alison Booth has an article in VoxEU on gender, risk and competition (I blogged on part of this research agenda recently). Some snippets.

Gender differences in risk aversion and competition, it is sometimes argued, may help explain some of the observed gender disparities in labour force achievement. For example, if remuneration in high-paying jobs is tied to bonuses based on a company’s performance and if women are more risk-averse than men, fewer women may choose to take high-paying jobs because of the uncertainty. …

An interesting study by Gneezy, Leonard, and List (2008) explored the role of culture in determining gender differences in competitive behaviour. They investigated two distinct societies, the Maasai tribe of Tanzania and the Khasi tribe in India. The former is patriarchal while the latter is matrilineal. In the patriarchal society, women were found to be less competitive than men, a result consistent with studies using data from Western cultures. But in the matrilineal society, women were more competitive than men. Indeed, the Khasi women were found to be as competitive as Maasai men. The authors interpret this as evidence that culture has an influence. …

We found that girls from single-sex schools were as likely to take a risk by gambling their £5 in the hopes of winning £11 as boys (from either coed or single sex schools) and were more likely to take a risk than coed girls. Moreover, gender differences in preferences for risk-taking were sensitive to the gender mix of the experimental group, with girls being more likely to choose to take a risk when assigned to an all-girl group. This suggests that observed gender differences in behaviour under uncertainty found in previous studies might reflect social learning rather than inherent gender traits. …

Using the data generated from this experiment, we found that girls from single-sex schools were significantly more likely to choose to enter the tournament than coeducational girls, ceteris paribus. Being randomly assigned to an all-girls group made the girl more likely to enter the tournament. We also compared girls’ behaviour with that of boys from single-sex and coeducational schools – girls from single-sex schools behaved more like boys. …

While our research should not be interpreted as saying that we should all immediately enrol our daughters in single-sex schools, it does provide food for thought. Educational studies have shown that there may be more pressure for girls to maintain their gender identity in schools where boys are present than for boys when girls are present. …

Women may be trained to be so by their environment. Appropriate policy action might be directed not only to removing discrimination on the demand-side but also towards developing female confidence in risk-taking on the supply-side.